


Dented Armor

by SilenceIsGolden15



Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo 2k19 [6]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Aromantic Asexual Keith (Voltron), Attempted Seduction, Attempted Sexual Assault, Bad Things Happen Bingo, Blackmail, Diplomacy, Fantastic Racism, Gen, Humiliation, Prompt: Humiliation, Protective Shiro (Voltron), Team as Family, Victim Blaming
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-14
Updated: 2019-12-14
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:55:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21785572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilenceIsGolden15/pseuds/SilenceIsGolden15
Summary: Parties, surprising no one, continue to suck for Keith.
Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo 2k19 [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1554010
Comments: 10
Kudos: 515
Collections: Bad Things Happen Bingo





	Dented Armor

Honestly, Keith preferred celebration parties to diplomatic balls. Usually they got to have their victory gatherings in the Castle, and the atmosphere was always more relaxed. During celebrations he was on home turf and surrounded by happy, grateful, hopeful people. On diplomacy missions he was in unfamiliar territory, glancing over his shoulder every other second waiting for someone to stick a knife in his back. 

This celebration was going particularly well. He was on the sidelines, chatting with Hunk and watching Lance thoroughly embarrass himself flirting with the Slodarian princess. He had ten GAC on Lance bombing spectacularly. Hunk, ever the dutiful friend, had bet he’d at least get a dance. The result remained to be seen, but Keith was perfectly content to stand there with Hunk, eating far too many of the little sandwich things he’d made for the party. How Hunk managed to make completely alien ingredients actually taste good, he’d never know. 

“Look, look, she’s laughing!” Hunk said, pointing out the Princess’ grin as Lance spoke to her. 

Keith just shook his head. “Yeah, but is it real laughter or awkward laughter?”

Hunk turned to him with a cheeky grin, probably about to debate him about it, but then his eyes slid away from Keith’s face and over his shoulder. Before he even said anything Keith turned to see who was coming up behind him. 

It was a Slodarian, one of the nobility judging by his fine clothing. The species native to the jungle planet of Slodara were designed to blend in to their surroundings, thin and lithe with scaly skin and quick, darting eyes. This one was colored leaf green with accents of silver, and his eyes were a dusky lemon yellow. 

“Good evening, Paladin,” he greeted, looking Keith up and down. “May I have a moment of your time?” 

“Uh…” That was one downside to the celebrations. During diplomatic discussions everyone’s attention was focused on Shiro and Allura, sparing Keith the awkwardness of navigating social interactions. But during the celebration parties people were more willing to talk, and Keith had fewer reasons to avoid them. 

Hunk nudged his shoulder lightly, and for a moment Keith thought he was going to come to his rescue. But when he looked, he was wearing a coy smile-- the same one he’d given Lance when he’d walked off to flirt. 

“I just remembered I have to go talk to Pidge about something,” said Hunk while Keith’s eyes shot daggers at him. “I’ll leave you to it, Keith.” Then he was gone, leaving him alone with a stranger. 

“Hmmm, Keith,” said the Slodarian, testing out the human name while Keith made a mental note to strangle Hunk later. “Earth has such interesting names.”

“What’s yours?” Keith made himself ask, hoping it was the right thing to say. Hopefully after a little bit of polite conversation the guy would wander off. Then he could hunt down Hunk and take his revenge. 

“I am known as Wellac,” he answered. “In my tongue it means ‘hunter’. What significance does yours hold?”

“I, um-- I don’t really know. I never thought to find out.” He shifted his weight from foot to foot and finally gave into the impulse to cross his arms. There was a moment of awkward silence threatening to emerge between them, but Keith was almost powerless to stop it. He had a hard enough time talking to people of his own species, how was he supposed to handle it with an alien? 

He was about to ask what rank he held in the court (a question he’d heard Allura ask a few people before) when Wellac suddenly took two steps forward, pushing his way into Keith’s personal space. He instinctively backed away until his back hit the wall and Wellac loomed over him.

“Forgive me for being forward,” he said softly, his eyes half lidded as he looked down at Keith, several inches taller than him. “But you have the most beautifully colored eyes.”

“Um,” Keith choked out. “Thanks?” His cheeks felt hot-- he must be redder than his jacket by now, but Wellac didn’t seem put off by his stuttered answer. Instead he inched even closer, and this time there was nowhere for Keith to go.

“I was wondering if you would do me the honor of a dance.”

Oh  _ hell.  _ The situation was rapidly developing into his worst nightmare-- he wasn’t like Lance, he didn’t want to spend his time flirting and hooking up with random people; if anything the idea made him feel nauseous. But now this guy had him cornered, and even though Voltron had saved their planet, there was still the possibility of causing a diplomatic upset if he wasn’t careful about his refusal. 

“I-- I actually have to, um, go talk to-- to Shiro. About something.”

Wellac’s scaly forehead creased. He’d apparently been expecting a different answer, and with that same furrowed expression that was probably his species’ version of a frown, he turned to cast a look across the room at where Shiro and Allura were making nice with the Queen of Slodara.

“The Black Paladin seems rather occupied at the moment.”

“Yeah, but, uh--” Keith frantically tried to think of an excuse, hating every additional moment he spent pressed between the wall and Wellac’s body. “He said something earlier about doing a perimeter check, so I should-- I should deal with that before-- before getting, uh, involved.” 

He hated how much he stammered when he was caught in a conversation. He was also a god-awful liar, and by the way Wellac’s eyes flicked all over him it appeared he knew what Keith was doing. And he wasn’t going to let it go. 

“Surely it can wait a few moments, just long enough for a quick dance. You wouldn’t deny an ally the pleasure of your company?”

Keith clenched his jaw. His apprehension was beginning to give way to anger, and as much as he didn’t want to cause a scene, he sure as hell wasn’t going to let this stuck up lizard walk all over him. 

As the seconds ticked down Keith cast his gaze around the room, looking for another possible out before he did something rash. Hunk was standing near the snack tables, but when Keith caught his eye he merely grinned and waved at him, so he would be no help. Lance was dancing with the Slodarian princess (damnit, now he owed Hunk money), and Pidge had one of the floating plates held hostage as she tried to fix it, Coran hovering nervously over her shoulder.

No assistance seemed to be forthcoming, so Keith raised his chin and tried to keep his tone even as he spoke. “Listen, I’m sure you’re a very interesting person to talk to, but I said no. No amount of asking is going to change my answer.”

For a minute they just stood there, staring each other down. Wellac’s expression was made of stone and Keith made his match, refusing to crumble, until eventually the alien looked away and took a step back. 

“Very well,” he said as he turned away. “Enjoy the celebration, Paladin.” He slipped away, back into the crowd of dancers, and Keith leaned back against the wall with a heavy exhale. 

Less than a second later Hunk had returned to his side, an upset expression on his face. 

“Aw, man, what’d you say to him? I was trying to be your wingman!”

“I don’t know what that means,” Keith said through gritted teeth, still full of irritation that crackled like static. “Don’t just leave me alone with people like that, you know I’m not good at talking. I don’t want to screw anything up.”

“Alright, alright,” said Hunk, pretending to give it up, but Keith could still see fragments of pity in his eyes. As though he’d already screwed something up and just didn’t know it yet. “You owe me ten GAC, by the way.”

They fell back into their previous conversation, but Keith wasn’t having so much fun anymore. He kept one eye on the crowd, keeping a lookout in case Wellac circled around for another go at him, but he couldn’t see him anywhere. He wasn’t sure whether to feel relieved or wary.

After a while the party seemed to have reached a fever pitch. The dance floor was crowded, voices loud and full of laughter bouncing off of the walls, the room filling with stifling heat. Hunk was pulled away by Lance to join the dancing, and in the confusion of bodies Keith couldn’t catch sight of anyone else. 

That was when Keith decided to leave. He couldn’t go to bed, Allura might need all of them for a closing address or something at the end of the event, but he could escape for a couple of hours, get his head straight again. He followed the curve of the room, sticking close to the wall to avoid getting in everybody’s way as he headed for the exit to the ballroom. It came into sight, but a second later Keith stopped. 

Someone had just ducked out of the ballroom and down the hallway-- but not the one that led to the Castle entrance. Keith glanced around to confirm he hadn’t gotten turned around at some point, but that only confirmed his suspicion; whoever it was had taken the hallway that went towards the Paladin’s bunks.

_ It’s probably just a mistake,  _ he told himself as he set off to intercept them.  _ Someone who doesn’t know the Castle and took the wrong hallway.  _

The hall was empty when he reached it, but it turned and went in a few directions, so he wasn’t too worried about it. A slight glimpse of movement ahead told him which path the lost partygoer was taking, and at first he just followed, sure that eventually they’d figure out they went the wrong way and turn back and he could intercept them. But the longer they went on the more his suspicious he got, until finally they reached the Paladin’s quarters.

Keith caught a tiny sliver of green as it disappeared into one of the rooms. 

His room, to be precise. 

His mind rushed through a million rationalizations. Maybe they were sick, maybe they were drunk, maybe their culture was so different they didn’t know what their actions implied, but deep down he knew none of those things were true. His instincts screamed danger, and he hadn’t become Red Paladin by ignoring them. 

So he kept his footsteps quiet as he approached the door to his bunk. His hands clenched into fists at his sides, wishing for a bayard or hilt to wrap around, but he didn’t have his knife. Allura had asked him not to bring it… and he left it in his room. 

_ Shit… if they find it… _

The thought pushed him forward. He paused outside the door for a moment, listening, and heard movement and rustling on the other side. Without thinking any further he pressed the door button, and as it hissed open, surged inside. 

He found Wellac standing over his bed, pupils gone to slits at the sudden light pouring in from the hallway. In his hand was Keith’s knife, the fabric scraps pulled away to reveal the symbol of the Blade of Marmora, pulsing softly in the darkness. 

Keith’s first instinct was to rush him. But this time he reined himself in, and instead of attacking, simply stepped in and let the door shut behind him. 

“That belongs to me.”

Wellac bared his needle-like teeth in a sharp sneer. “I know,” he said, and didn’t make any move to let go of it. “You’ve been telling lies, Paladin.”

Keith clenched his fists, but willed himself not to snap. “That’s none of your business. Give me my knife.”

Wellac straightened up, holding the blade out in one hand while he cast an appraising eye over it. “It looks to me like Galra weaponry.”

“You’re wrong.” Even as he said it, he knew Wellac wasn’t going to be fooled by his half-assed attempts at lying. 

“I don’t think I am.” Wellac dared to take a few steps forward, now dangling the knife tauntingly from two fingers. “Can you imagine what the Queen would say if she heard about this? That she made allies with a Galra?”

Keith sometimes had trouble deciphering people’s intentions from their words, but even he could tell what Wellac was threatening. Either he did what he wanted, or he would tell the Queen, and there would be a huge diplomatic mess for Allura to solve, if she could. He could probably take Wellac down if he had to, but then what? As soon as he went back he’d tell everyone what happened, and it wasn’t like Keith could tie him up in a closet somewhere. 

He was stuck. 

He let his hands fall open and took a deep breath, trying his best not to snarl as Wellac’s face settled into a smirk. “Fine. What do you want?”

Wellac moved forward again, and this time he didn’t stop until Keith was backed up against the wall, the glow from his dagger illuminating his scaled face as he braced it over Keith’s head. 

“An hour or so ago I would’ve just said a dance,” he said, his breath hot over Keith’s cheekbones. “But you made me quite frustrated playing hard to get earlier.”

_ Fuck.  _ Keith turned his head away as the alien leaned ever closer, focusing his eyes on the closed door to his left. Was he really going to do this? Everything in his body was screaming to lash out, to get away, and at any moment he expected his brain to shut off and let him act like it so often did. 

But it wasn’t. Wellac was holding him in place with nothing more than a threat, and he hated himself for it. 

Wellac’s lips brushed his cheek, and he let out a low laugh when Keith flinched. “Don’t be afraid of me,” he murmured in Keith’s ear. “You should be flattered, really. I’m from one of the highest families on Slodara. I’m the best a filthy halfbreed like yourself could ever dream of getting.”

Rage flared up in his chest. Keith brought his hands up and braced them against Wellac’s torso, ready to shove him away and refuse, until the point of his blade came up under his chin, wickedly sharp as Keith always kept it, and made him still. 

“Don’t do anything silly. I would hate to destroy something this pretty.”

When Keith didn’t move again for several seconds, Wellac slowly lowered the knife again, though making sure to drag the tip over his skin as a warning. He began to lean in once again, and Keith turned away and squeezed his eyes shut-- all he could hope was that it would be over quickly.

Then there was a hiss, and Keith saw the light on the other side of his eyelids. 

“Hey, Mullet, have you seen--” Lance’s voice abruptly cut off. When Keith opened his eyes he saw the Blue Paladin’s silhouette standing in the doorway, frozen by surprise, and his heart soared. Someone found him! He was saved! He couldn’t make out Lance’s expression in the sudden glare, but he was certain that he would start yelling at any moment, calling the attention of the others, and then--

“Oh. Wow. Sorry, didn’t mean to intrude.”

Wait,  _ what?  _

“Man, I didn’t think you had it in you. But don’t worry, I’ll make sure you’ll get your privacy.” Keith’s eyes had adjusted enough to see Lance wink before beginning to step away from the door. His stomach dropped. 

“Wait, Lance,  _ no--”  _

The door slid shut again, leaving them in darkness. 

* * *

Wow. Just… wow. Lance had pinned Keith as not straight from day one, but he’d never seemed the type for one night stands. Then again, with that many abandonment issues, maybe he should’ve expected it. 

Well, either way, it wasn’t any of his business. It didn’t look like Pidge was hiding anywhere in here, so maybe she went back to the ballroom. 

As soon as he returned he was flagged down by Shiro, who had finally managed to escape from the overly chatty Queen. The rest of the team was gathered behind him, Pidge still trying to fix the malfunctioning floating plate while Hunk and Coran looked on, the former with amusement and the latter with trepidation. 

“Lance, there you are,” said Allura as he approached. “It’s about time for the official address. We need everyone in their places.”

“Have you seen Keith?” asked Shiro, and Lance felt a cheeky grin grow on his lips. Man, he couldn’t wait to see Shiro’s face!

“Yeah, I’ve seen him,” he said slyly. “He’s in his bunk. He’s got a… visitor, if you know what I mean.” He waggled his eyebrows, and Shiro’s expression twisted into confusion. Lance expected him to get it and flush with embarrassment at any moment, but the confusion never left. 

“What do you mean?” Shiro asked. “There’s someone in there with him?”

“Uh, yeah. And they looked like they were getting pretty cozy, ya know?”

Shiro definitely didn’t look like he knew, but that got both Hunk and Pidge to look up. 

“Oh, was it the same guy from earlier? With the green scales?”

Pidge rolled her eyes. “A lot of these people have green scales, Hunk.”

Lance shoved his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels. Shiro wasn’t giving him the reaction he’d hoped for, but at least Hunk seemed to be on the up and up. 

“I dunno what color he was, it was dark, but they were standing pre-tty close to each other.” 

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Shiro broke in, only to be cut off by Pidge.

“Yeah, I always thought he was more on the ace side,” she said as she wedged the edge of what was, for all intents and purposes, a screwdriver into the floating plate. “But I guess you can never tell for sure.”

“No, you don’t understand.” For some reason Shiro seemed to be getting frustrated, his voice growing terse as he continued. “Keith doesn’t  _ do  _ that. Something’s wrong.” With that he turned away from the group and made for the hallway, leaving the rest of them standing in a confused huddle that, without anything else to do, followed after him a few seconds later. 

Shiro was moving at a quick clip, and Lance had to jog a little to catch up with him. It didn’t take long to get to the Paladins’ quarters, and Shiro didn’t hesitate for even a second before he opened the door to Keith’s bunk. Lance saw his eyes light up with rage, and when he looked inside the room himself, it wasn’t hard to see why. 

They were still in the same position; Keith up against the wall with the alien leaning over him. In the intervening minutes Keith’s jacket had been pulled from his body and tossed carelessly onto the floor, half of the buttons on his fancy shirt undone, his hair a rumpled mess. Both figures flinched and froze when the light fell on them, and when Keith turned towards the light, Lance was able to make out a few tear streaks going down his cheeks. 

For a moment everything was still. Then, before any of them could break out of their stunned stupor, the alien spun, keeping a grip on Keith’s shirt and throwing him to the floor. 

It had taken forever, but finally Lance realized the situation wasn’t what he thought it was. 

“Get away from me, you disgusting harlot!” the alien cried, scurrying back towards the door as though Keith was the dangerous one, even though he still laid where he’d been thrown. He turned to them and his voice became pleading. “Thank goodness you’re here, Paladins. I was horribly afraid.”

Lance exchanged a look with Hunk and Pidge, one of confusion and unease. Maybe it was just the way the species looked, but to him the alien’s eyes looked coy and shifty, and he was getting an unpleasant gnawing in his gut.

Shiro clearly wasn’t falling for it. He looked absolutely murderous, and if Allura hadn’t put an arm across the doorway, he probably would’ve mauled the guy with no questions asked. 

“What happened here?” asked Allura. Her tone was even, but there was a hint of coldness to her expression that betrayed her anger. 

“Oh, well.” The alien leaned up against the wall, dramatically fanning his face and looking down on Keith. He was sitting up now, but he’d curled into a ball and hid his face in his knees. “I wasn’t feeling well and went to get some air, but I’m afraid I took the wrong hall. Then in the middle of the floor I found this.” He held up his other hand, wrapped around the hilt of a very familiar purple knife. 

If he wasn’t before, Lance was now convinced this guy was lying. Keith never left his knife laying around. Even he knew that.

The alien’s face contorted into an extremely fake expression of distress. “I’m sure you know what that symbol means, Princess. I was about to bring it to you when he,” he gestured limply to Keith, “cornered me here. At first he tried to seduce me into keeping quiet, but when I refused, he attacked!”

Lance almost laughed at that. He couldn’t imagine Keith seducing his way out of a paper bag. The whole thing was a lie, and he held onto the absurdity of it so that he wouldn’t succumb to the horror that was brewing in the back of his mind. The horror of what almost happened-- the horror of what he almost let happen. 

“I am terribly sorry, Princess. It’s a horrible thing, learning that one of your trusted Paladins is a halfbreed. Such disgusting creatures, defiling the sanctity of Voltron, an insult to your father’s memory--”

“Allura,” Shiro hissed between clenched teeth, and she gave a slight nod in return. 

“That’s quite enough,” she said, cutting the alien off in the middle of his torrent of insults. “If you would come with me, we’ll resolve this in a more fitting setting.” 

The alien gave a fake smile of fake relief. It took everything Lance had not to tackle him as he walked past them into the hallway, and when he was gone he noticed that Shiro’s hands were shaking. 

“Coran,” Allura said before leading the alien away down the hall. “Please inform the other guests that the address has been canceled.”

“Of course, Princess.”

Coran rushed off. The group managed to wait until they turned the corner, then Shiro rushed into the room and the rest of them followed. 

Keith scrambled to his feet as soon as he saw them coming. He kept several feet between himself and the rest of them and his face turned away, but even in the darkness Lance could see how red his face was, how the blush leaked down his neck. How bathed he was in utter mortification. 

“Keith,” Shiro said, letting him have his distance. “Are you alright?”

“He’s lying,” he choked out without answering Shiro’s question. “I didn’t do anything.”

“I know. We know you didn’t do anything wrong. Are you hurt?”

Keith shook his head, and Lance watched as he folded up, wrapping an arm around his middle and bracing his other arm against it so that he could cover his face with his hand. Guilt made his stomach twist, and before he thought it through he opened his mouth. 

“I’m sorry about before,” he said, desperate to make up for his error. “I should’ve asked if you were alright, I shouldn’t have just left you here with him, I’m so sorry.”

Keith just shook his head again and angled his body away. He was trying to close himself off, but Lance wasn’t going to let him. He pressed closer, ignoring Shiro’s warning whisper, and stopped just close of touching. Up this close he could see how Keith’s whole body trembled, how one of his hands was curled tight like claws into his shirt, how the other covered his eyes and sealed him off from the rest of the room. Lance lowered his voice, doing his best not to startle him.

“I mean it, man. I’m sorry.”

Keith didn’t answer, but a second later Hunk stepped forward to join them, saying, “Yeah, me too. I’m sorry I left you alone with him earlier. You tried to tell me but I didn’t listen.”

Shiro came, too, and him Keith didn’t shy away from. He let him wrap an arm around his shoulders, and Shiro spoke so quietly that Lance barely heard when he said, “None of that was true. You know that, right?”

Keith nodded, but Lance reeled. It had never occurred to him that Keith might’ve been affected by all the disgusting things that alien had been saying about him, but why wouldn’t he? He wasn’t a stone wall, as much as he acted like one sometimes. He was only human; suddenly Lance was re-evaluating how often he called Keith ‘dropout’.

Pidge was the last to join the small cluster. She didn’t say a word, just offered up what she held in her hands, at some point having abandoned the malfunctioning plate. It was Keith’s jacket-- not the one he’d worn for the ball, but his usual one that hung on the wall when he wasn’t wearing it. 

He took it immediately and pulled it on like he was donning armor. 

“Let’s go to the lounge,” Hunk suggested quietly. “It’s too dark in here.”

“What about the ball?” asked Keith, and Lance couldn’t stop himself from snorting. Keith really didn’t think about anything but the mission, did he?

“Fuck the ball,” was Pidge’s clipped answer, and this one time Shiro didn’t scold her for her language. “Allura and Coran can deal with it. They hired us to be pilots, not diplomats.”

At any other time there would’ve been argument. Shiro might gently remind them that Paladins were both warriors and diplomats, not just one or the other. Hunk could’ve said something about how they hadn’t technically been hired, leaving room for Lance to make a wry comment that they weren’t getting paid, either. But none of that happened now.

Now Keith just gave a watery, stuttering laugh, and let the group bear him out of the shadows and out into the light. 


End file.
